Prophecy Update: August 17, 2018

I am following several stories that are very depressing. I am not depressed however. In JC Ryle’s book on the end times he says, “I believe that the wide‐spread unbelief, indifference, formalism, and wickedness, which are to be seen throughout Christendom, are only what we are taught to expect in God’s Word. Troublesome times, departures from the faith, evil men waxing worse and worse, love waxing cold, are things distinctly predicted. So far from making me doubt the truth of Christianity, they help to confirm my faith. Melancholy and sorrowful as the sight is, if I did not see it I should think the Bible was not true (Matt. 24:12; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1,4, 13).” He said these things in 1867. Just as JC Ryle believed the Word of God, I think we do not need to be afraid of the things which God has already said would happen.

The Roman Catholic Church has real problems with immorality and then they cover it up. The New York times reported last week, “Catholic Priests Abused 1,000 Children in Pennsylvania, Report Says: Bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania covered up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years, persuading victims not to report the abuse and law enforcement not to investigate it, according to a searing report issued by a grand jury on Tuesday.” Pope Francis said that one in fifty priests are pedophile. Christianity is being denigrated because of this evil.

Andy Stanley is in hot water again because he is advocating an old heresy. He is pushing Christians to unhitch themselves from the Old Testament. Al Mohler confronted him in an excellent article. “Getting ‘Unhitched’ from the Old Testament? Andy Stanley Aims at Heresy August 10, 2018.” Earlier this year, Stanley brought controversy when he argued in a sermon that the Christian faith must be “unhitched” from the Old Testament. He claimed that “Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.” Indeed, in the sermon Stanley did not argue that any specific Old Testament command should be nullified. Instead, he went even further and told his listeners that the Old Testament should not be seen as “the go-to source regarding any behavior in the church.” In his view, the first century leadership of the church “unhitched the church from the worldview, value system, and regulations of the Jewish Scriptures.” Andy Stanley could not be more wrong. Listen to Jesus:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”(Matthew 5:17-19)

Andy Stanley denied what Jesus said here when he said to Jonathan Merritt in a interview: “I’m convinced that we make a better case for Jesus if we leave the Old Testament or the old covenant out of the argument. We can make a better case for Jesus than the case Jesus made for himself?” Seriously, this guy is off the reservation. I would encourage you to stop listening to Andy Stanley until he repents of this heretical position which he has taken. Jesus said in John 5:39 of the OT, “it is they that bear witness about me.” Al Mohler went on to quote Stanley from 2016, ‘In recent years, Andy Stanley has encouraged getting over “the Bible tells me so.” He actually claimed in 2016 that the church veered into “trouble” when it began to make its arguments on the basis of the Bible. He cited “deconversion” stories in which people told him that they lost their Christian faith when they lost confidence in the Bible. He said: “If the Bible is the foundation of your faith, here’s the problem: it’s all or nothing. Christianity becomes a fragile house of cards religion.” In the interview Stanley affirmed again that affirmation of the virgin birth is not necessary. He had earlier stated, “If someone can predict their own death and resurrection, I’m not all that concerned about how they got into the world.” Problem is that the Bible is very concerned about how Jesus came into the world.

God has warned us that false teachers would arise and that they would seek to lead many astray. JC Ryle went onto say: “I believe that the grand purpose of the
present dispensation is to gather out of the world an elect people, and not to convert all mankind. It does not surprise me at all to hear that the heathen are not all converted when missionaries preach, and that believers are but a little flock in any congregation in my own land. It is precisely the state of things which I expect to find. The Gospel is to be preached “as a witness,” and then shall the end come. This is the dispensation of election, and not of universal conversion (Acts 15:14; Matt. 24:14). This is a very important statement because so many think that if we did church right, we would reach the whole community and everyone would get saved. NOT! Jesus told us the exact opposite. He said if they hated Me then they will hate you. This is a very uncomfortable truth, but suffering for the sake of the Gospel is exactly what we find in our world.

In Colorado, the baker who was cleared by the Supreme Court is being persecuted. Reuters had this headline: “Colorado baker in case of Supreme Court sues state over ‘persecution’ A Colorado baker who won a narrow Supreme Court victory over his refusal to make a wedding cake for a gay couple is suing the state after it launched another case against him for declining to create a cake for a transgender woman. “This lawsuit is necessary to stop Colorado’s continuing persecution of Phillips,” the written complaint alleges. Also named in the lawsuit are Governor John Hickenlooper and Cynthia Coffman, the state attorney general.” The left, those who Jesus would say are of their father the devil, continue to persecute Christians across the country.

Canada’s Trinity Western University (TWU) has quietly caved to judicial and LGBT pressure to remove its insistence that students agree to refrain from all sexual activity outside of traditional marriage. Only when the academic institution attempted to open a law school was the requirement challenged. In June, the Supreme Court of Canada — in a decision that many decried a profound violation of religious freedom — voted 7-2 against the university, saying, “A mandatory covenant is not absolutely required to study law in a Christian environment.” This is just one of many stories that I can site to show that Satan is putting on a full press court on Christians.

In America, Christians and states are fighting back.(I am so proud of America) Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill passed by the state legislature in March that would require all Florida public schools to include a display with the motto “In God We Trust” in visible places on school property. The legislation is set to go into effect this week, the New York Post reported. Alabama public schools also began placing signs with “In God We Trust” in prominent places within school buildings because of recently passed legislation that went into effect in July. Additionally, lawmakers in Arkansas and Tennessee passed laws requiring public schools to post the phrase. Arkansas public schools rolled out “In God We Trust” posters in November after the state passed legislation in August allowing the motto to be displayed on school property, and Tennessee lawmakers passed a law in March requiring public schools to post the national motto in a visible area of school property.” We should pray that God will bless the efforts of these states and that God will send revival.

The nation of Hungary is fighting back against all of the anti-Christian bias. “In a time when most of Europe is in the grips of atheism, there is a nation where Christianity seems to not only be holding its own but some say is thriving. Imagine a government that is unabashedly Christian, that thinks Christian values are worth defending, that wants to protect and even nourish the family.” Now they even beat the anti-Christian George Soros group dedicated to harming all Christians.
The British press had this headline: “EXPELLED: Hungary wins the war against ultra-liberal billionaire George Soros, who has decided to move his foundation from Budapest to Berlin.” Hungary’s constitution is explicitly Christian and says that marriage is between one man and one woman and that life begins at conception. It even includes the phrase, “God bless the Hungarians. The Hungarian government says, “Taking in persecuted Christians is our moral and constitutional duty.”

I am praying that President Trump has the guts to throw George Soros and his organization out of the USA like Hungary did. Dave Hodges said in his recent commentary: “Sitting at the heart of all of America’s problems is a man named George Soros and he continues to destroy this country with impunity. The left is marching toward a New World Order characterized by the loss of civil liberties and the destruction of capitalism. This will end with compliant sheep living in stack and pack cities after a genocidal purge as foretold by Bill Ayers and the torch is being carried by George Soros.” George Soros funds ANTIFA, radical abortion groups, and anarchy in our country. He is behind the push to purge the internet of conservative points of view. The left is now unhinged and believe that it is time to use violence against all of the people who have a Biblical worldview or who hold to pro American views. This anger and hatred is from Satan. I hope that you are praying with me that God would preserve our country. Please pray what Pres. Lincoln said at Gettysburg: “that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Amen!